In the fall of 1996, I was ready to try anything to get better. I had had some bladder problems that seemed to be related to hormonal replacement therapy, but they were only part of a multitude of health issues: recurrent infections, systemic lupus, asthma, and difficulty concentrating. I went to my clinical ecologist, an MD on the "cutting edge" of combining modern medicine with environmental controls, nutritional therapy, and other complementary treatments. We had been working together for years to keep my "high maintenance" body going.

As she puzzled over my list of symptoms she suddenly brightened up. "I know," she said eagerly, "have you ever tried this new diet that is based on raw foods, vegetables and fruits?"

"Well, no," I replied. I had tried a macrobiotic diet a few years before, also recommended by this same doctor, and I did lose weight on it. But my joint pain had increased, perhaps because at the same time I took lactobacillus. And then I had an anaphylactic reaction to some bean soup containing seaweed, and gave it up. But I was willing to give anything a try. It's called desperation!

So off I went to the doctor's favorite health food store to buy a Champion juicer, organic carrots, a book about the new diet, and a list of food supplements. It was carrot juice all day, banana and avocado fruit salad every morning, and walking for exercise--and the worst IC flare I had ever experienced. I had frank bleeding and passed bits of bloody tissue from the bladder. I had intense and excruciating suprapubic pain, extending out into the ureters. My rheumatologist sent me to a urologist. He did an office cystoscopy that left me shaking, pale and bent over in pain. He didn't know what was wrong, he said, but it might be interstitial cystitis.

The story has a happy ending. I sold the juicer on the www.webswap.com site. More importantly, the flare led me to get a proper diagnosis of IC, and treatment with Elmiron and dietary controls. I now know that the extremely high potassium in the carrot juice diet, and the fruit salad ingredients as well, probably caused the IC flare. I have learned how to avoid such triggers. I lead a local IC support group, and my interstitial cystitis is under control, most of the time. But I am a little more cautious about "trying anything," even if a brilliant but slightly eccentric medical doctor recommends it!